Home
Up

 Some Grassland Facts

Compiled by: John McAllister, Mpumalanga Parks Board

General Characteristics

·     The climate typically consists of warm, wet summers followed by cold, dry winters with heavy frosts.

·     Vegetation is dominated by grass species with many  bulbous plants.

·     Shrubs and trees are restricted by fire and frost to protected kloofs and rocky areas

·     The topography is characterised by rolling hills and valleys.

·     They are generally found at either high altitudes or high latitudes.

·     They are often characterised by the presence of many wetlands.

Origins

·     “Classical” authors (e.g. Acocks, Edwards, Galpin, Huntley, Killick, Mentis, Philips, Roux and Tainton) consider the South African Grassland Biome to be artificially maintained by anthropogenically caused fires and that it is seral to the Forest, Fynbos or Savanna Biomes.

·     “Modern” authors (e.g. Komarek, Manry & Knight, Matthews et al, Moll, Rutherford & Westfall and Sunquist) consider that lightning initiated fires, together with dry, frosty winters are the root cause of grasslands.  Forests and savannas have and still are invading the African grasslands.

·     While the South African Grassland Biome is now unique in Africa grasslands once used to cover nearly 50% of Africa’s surface.  A change in climate, around 3 million years ago allowed trees to encroach into these grasslands and create the savannas we know today.  This climatic change may also have allowed man, then largely frugivorous, to leave the forests and jungles to settle in the savannas.  Even today the vast majority of the African Savanna Biome’s wealth of large herbivorous mammals are grazers not browsers.

·     Prof. Van Wyk of the University of Pretoria believes that South African grasslands have an ancient origin.  Most plant reproduction takes place vegetatively and not through seed production, particularly among bulbous plants and climax grasses.  One of the implications of this is that many grass clumps are genetically identical to grass clumps that were in the area as much as 2 000 years ago, ie. they are to all intents and purposes the same individuals (A E van Wyk, Pers. Comm. 1994).

Water Supply

·     Montane grasslands and fynbos are the great “collectors” of rain water in South Africa.   They reduce immediate runoff and thus erosion, hold the water as ground water or in wetlands and release it slowly throughout the year (including the dry season) through seepage zones, etc. - a sort of sponge effect.

·     The southern montane grasslands of Mpumalanga, for example, provide a year-round water supply essential for the cooling of the power generators of the Highveld power stations (Department of Water Affairs, 1986) - power stations that produce 70% of South Africa’s electricity requirements.  Without this water the coal fields of Mpumalanga would be unable to generate this power.

Species Diversity

Plants

·     Botanically grasslands support 81 species per 1 000 mē.  This compares to 86 species in the Renosterveld and 65 in the fynbos (Huntley, 1989).

·     Of every six plants found in pristine South African Grasslands only one is a grass (A E van Wyk, Pers. comm. 1994)

·     There are more than 100 endemic plant species in the Mpumalanga grasslands alone (Duthie, 1992).

·     More than 50% of the plants listed as threatened in the erstwhile Transvaal and 43% in KwaZulu-Natal are located in the moist areas of the Grassland Biome (Duthie, 1992).

Birds

·     Of the 40 species endemic to South Africa 21, or 53%, are found in the Grassland Biome.   Twelve (57%) of these are endemic to the biome.

·     The southern highland grasslands of Mpumalanga, together with the adjacent areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State have been declared an Endemic Bird Area (EBA) in urgent need of conservation by BirdLife International, advisors to the IUCN on matters affecting birds.  An EBA supports at least two endemic species of birds with a distribution range of less than 50 000 kmē.   The South African Grassland EBA supports three - Rudd’s Lark, Botha’s Lark and Yellowbreasted Pipit - all considered threatened on a global scale (Stattersfield, et al, 1998).

·     Of the 16 species occurring in South Africa and considered to be threatened on a global scale by BirdLife International 11 (69%) are either entirely restricted to the Grassland Biome or have a substantial proportion of their local population reliant on this biome.   This is also true for 9 of the 30 near-threatened species (Collar, et al, 1994).

·     Of the 79 species considered to be threatened or near threatened on a southern African scale by the Avian Demography Unit (Barnes, 1996) 31 (39%) are restricted to or substantially dependent on these grasslands.

Reptiles and amphibia

·     Of the 93 species of threatened reptiles and amphibians in South Africa 13 (14%) occur in the Grassland Biome (Branch, 1988a) and 11 (85%) of these are endemic to the biome.

·     Of the 195 reptiles endemic to South Africa 42 (22%) are found in the Grassland Biome (Branch, 1988b).  Of these 20 (48%) species and a further 7 subspecies are endemic to the biome.

·     Of the 54 amphibians endemic to South Africa 16 (30%) are found in the Grassland Biome (Passmore & Carruthers, 1995). Of these 8 species (50%) are endemic to the biome.

Butterflies

·     Of the 102 threatened butterflies in South Africa 31 (30%) occur in the Grassland Biome (Henning & Henning, 1989).  One of these species is already extinct and 29 (94%) are  endemic to the biome.

Mammals

·     15 of the 34 mammals (44%) endemic to South Africa can be found in the Grassland Biome and 4 of these (27%) are endemic to the biome (Smithers, 1983).

·     Of the 92 threatened land mammals in South Africa 18 (20%) can be found in the Grassland Biome.

Economics

·     The remaining grasslands of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal alone provide natural grazing to sheep producing more than 8 million kg wool annually with a value exceeding R 52 million in 1995.

·     With large number of endemic species South Africa’s grasslands have a high, but as yet virtually untapped eco-tourism potential worth possibly as much as R 60 million annually.

·     Although not properly assessed the economic value of the South African grasslands to a sustainably based traditional medicine industry must be considerable.

·     South Africa’s entire maize crop and a large proportion of its wheat crop is produced in the Grassland Biome.

·     By far the largest proportion of South Africa’s commercial timber is grown and processed within the biome.

·     The great bulk of South Africa’s mineral wealth lies under the surface of the Grassland Biome.

·     Water runoff from Mpumalanga’s southern highland grassland catchments alone supplies all the water used for cooling purposes in the Highveld Power Stations and SASOL’s Secunda petrol-from-coal plant.

Conservation Status

·     Between 60 and 80% of South Africa’s grassland Veld Types (Acocks, 1975) have been irreversibly transformed (MacDonald, 1989).

·     Less than 2% of South Africa’s grasslands are formally conserved (Rutherford & Westfall, 1986).

·     Of the 115 859 kmē of grasslands in the erstwhile Transvaal:

*     56 782 kmē was under cultivation by 1987 (MacDonald, 1989);

*     more than 7 000 kmē was under plantations by the early 1990s (Cowling & Olivier) and a further 5 000 kmē is scheduled for tree planting by 2020 (van der Zel, 1989);

*     South Africa’s major metropolitan area - the Gauteng Province - with an area of 30 336 kmē and 8,791 million inhabitants (Development Bank of South Africa, 1991) - lies almost completely within the area;

*     2 000 kmē of the Mpumalanga Highveld is taken up by South Africa’s major gold and coal deposits, much of which are mined in opencast pits (Huntley, et al, 1989).

·     Pollution levels on the Mpumalanga Highveld  area among the highest in the world (Huntley, et al, 1989) largely as a result of:

*     8 Eskom Power Stations producing 70% of South Africa’s power requirements (Huntley, 1989);

*     6 pulp and paper mills (a further 8 have been proposed within the biome as a whole) (van der Zel, 1989);

*     2 petrol-from-coal plants;

*     many large industries with a high potential for causing major pollution disasters (e.g. A multitude of steel, gold chrome and other metallurgical processing industries).

References and Suggested Reading

 

Acocks J P H.   1975.  Veld Types of South Africa.  Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa.  Botanical Research Institute, Department of Agricultural Technical Services.  40:1-128.

 

Barnes K.  1996.  Important Bird Areas in South Africa - Guidelines to Contributors.  Unpublished.

Branch W R (ed).   1988a.  South African Red Data Book - Reptiles and Amphibians.  South African National Scientific Programmes Report No. 151.   CSIR.  Pretoria.  235 pp.

 

Branch W R (ed).   1988b.  Field Guide to the Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa.   Struik Publishers.  Cape Town.  328 pp.

 

Brooke R K.  1984.  South African Red Data Book - Birds.  South African National Scientific Programmes Report No. 97.  CSIR, Pretoria.  213 pp.

 

Collar N J, M J Crosby, and A J Stattersfield.  1994.  Birds to watch 2 : the world list of threatened birds.  BirdLife International.  Cambridge, England.  407 pp.

 

Cowling R M and N J J Olivier.   1992.  Indigenous plants.  In: Fuggle R A and Rabie (eds.).  Environmental Management in South Africa.  Juta & Co Ltd.   Cape Town.  212-249.

 

Department of Water Affairs.   1986.  Management of the Water Resources of the Republic of South Africa.  Government Printer.   Pretoria.  483 pp.

 

Development Bank of South Africa.   1991.  1990/91 Annual Report.

 

Duthie A.  1992.  Wood for the trees.   Bushcall.  Jume:6-7.

 

Edwards D.  1967.  A plant ecological survey of the Tugela River Basin.  Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa.  Botanical Research Institute, Department of Agricultural Technical Services.  36:1-285

 

Galpin E E.  1926.  Botanical Survey of the Springbok Flats. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa.  Advisory Committee for the Botanical Survey of South Africa.  Cape Times Ltd.  Cape Town.  12:1-100.

 

Henning S F and G A Henning.   1989.  South African Red Data Book - Butterflies. South African National Scientific Programmes Report No 158.  CSIR, Pretoria.  175 pp.

 

Huntley B J.   1984.  Characteristics of South African Biomes.  In : Booysen P de V and Tainton (eds.).   Ecological effects of fire in South African Ecosystems.   Ecological Studies 48.  Springer-Verlag.  Berlin.  1-17.

 

Huntley B J. (ed.).   1989.  Biotic Diversity in Southern Africa - Concepts and Conservation.   Oxford University Press.  Cape Town.  136-147.

 

Huntley B J, R Siegfried and C Sunter.  1989.  South African Environments into the 21st Century.   Human and Rousseau, Tafelberg.  Cape Town..  127 pp.

 

ICBP.   1992.  Putting Biodiversity on the Map : Priority Areas for Global Conservation.  International Council for Bird Preservation.  Cambridge.  United Kingdom.   90 pp.

 

Killick D J B.   1963.  An Account of the Plant Ecology of the Cathedral Peak area of the Drakensberg.   Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa.  Botanical Research Institute, Department of Agricultural Technical Services.  34:1-178.

 

Komarek E V.   1971.  Lightning and Fire Ecology in Africa.  Proceedings of the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference.  11:473-511.

 

MacDonald I A W.   1989.  Man’s role in changing the face of Southern Africa.  In : Huntley B J. (ed.).  Biotic Diversity in Southern Africa - Concepts and Conservation.   Oxford University Press.  Cape Town.  51-77.

 

Manry D E and R S Knight.   1986.  Lightning Density and Burning Frequency in South African Vegetation.  Vegetatio.  67:67-76.

 

Matthews W S, A E van Wyk and G J Bredenkamp.  1993.  Endemic flora of the North-eastern Transvaal Escarpment, South Africa.  Biological Conservation.  63:83-94.

 

Mentis M T.  1984.  Monitoring in South African Grasslands. .  South African National Scientific Programmes Report No. 91.  CSIR.   Pretoria.   55 pp.

 

Mentis M T and B J Huntley.   1982.  A description of the Grassland Biome Project. .  South African National Scientific Programmes Report No. 62.   CSIR.  Pretoria.  29 pp.

 

Mentis M T, M J Meiklejohn and J S B Scotcher.  1974.  Veld burning in Giant’s Castle Game Reserve, Natal Drakensberg.  Proceedings of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa.  9:26-31.

 

Moll E J.  The Grassland Biome - a Heritage Lost?  Veld and Flora.  72(4):128-129.

 

Passmore N I & V C Carruthers.   1995.  South African Frogs - a Complete Guide.  Southern Book Publishers and Witwatersrand University Press.    Johannesburg.  322 pp.

 

Phillips, E P.   1920.  Veld burning experiments at Groenkloof.  Second Report.  Science Bulletin 17.  Department of Agriculture.  Union of South Africa.  17 pp.

 

Roux E.   1969.  Grass, a Story of Frankenwald.  Oxford University Press.  London.   212 pp.

 

Rutherford M C and R H Westfall.   1986.  Biomes of Southern Africa - an Objective Categorisation. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa.  Botanical Research Institute, Department of Agricultural and Water Supply.  Pretoria.  54:1-98.

 

Smithers R H N.   1983.  The mammals of the Southern African Subregion.  University of Pretoria, Pretoria.  736 pp.

 

Smithers R H N.   1986. South African Red Data Book - Terrestrial Mammals.  South African National Scientific Programmes Report No 125.  CSIR, Pretoria.  216 pp.

 

Sunquist F.  1986.  Peering into the secrets of Grasslands.  International Wildlife.  16(2):52-58.

 

Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J.,  Long, A. J. and Wege, D. C.   1998.  Endemic bird areas of the world : Priorities for biodiversity conservation.  BirdLife International.  Cambridge, England.

 

Tainton N M.   1981.  Veld and Pasture Management in South Africa.  Shuter and Shooter in Association with Natal University Press.   Pietermaritzburg.  26-56.

 

Tainton N M and M T Mentis.   1984.  Fire in Grassland. .  In : Booysen P de V and Tainton (eds.).   Ecological effects of fire in South African Ecosystems.  Ecological Studies 48.  Springer-Verlag.   Berlin.  115-147.

 

Van der Zel D W.   1989.  Strategic Forestry Development Plan for South Africa.  Mimeographed Publication.  Directorate of National Forestry Planning, Department of Environment Affairs.  Pretoria.